Review of Ryan's Daughter (1970) by Mike G — 14 Oct 2010

Much maligned in its day David Lean epic with a Robert Bolt script that basically adapts and modifies "Madame Bovary" and sets it in WW1 era Ireland. I personally find it magnificent and the good far outweighs the bad, but I'm afraid I'm just too old-fashioned and with a classical sense for today's average movie watcher to trust.

So if you have little attention span, don't appreciate fantastic Freddie Young cinematography and don't have the inclination to see the greatest of masters Lean present a story told with true emotion through images, editing and soundtrack, don't see it! That said, I think it's a timeless classic with great performances in particular from Trevor Howard, Sarah Miles and Robert Mitchum.

There are several sequences that are just incredible. I loved the fantasy sequence set to Beethoven's 3rd, 1st movement in which Mitchum imagines what's become of his pretty young wife and so forth.

And then there's the storm! Just sensational! John Mills won an oscar for his drooling halfwit Michael, but I don't think he was nearly as great in his supporting role as Howard, who as the rugged Catholic priest stands as the moral center of this small tale of a love triangle set in a most epic way.

It may not be as great as Lawrence of Arabia or Dr. Zhivago or even Lean's last film A Passage to India, but it's great in it's own way.